Faculty

Professor

Contact

Office: NES 405A
Lab: NES 329
Email: sehill2@usf.edu

Education

B.S. in Physics, University of South Florida, 2005

M.S. in Applied Physics, University of South Florida, 2008

Ph.D. in Applied Physics, University of South Florida, 2011
Dissertation: “Physical Models of Amyloid Fibril Assembly”
Advisor: Martin Muschol, Ph.D.
Concentration: Biophysics

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-2016

Research Scientist II in School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-2019

Senior Research Scientist in Department of Molecular Medicine, University of South Florida Health, 2019-2024

Research

Protein Biochemistry, Structural Biology, and Biophysics

Scaffolding proteins are essential multimeric complexes that play a crucial role in various signaling pathways by organizing and maintaining the local proximity of molecules within the crowded cellular environment. To date, over 300 human scaffolding proteins have been identified; however, for many, the molecular details of their complex formation and the intermolecular interactions that guide these processes are still not well understood. Inspired by a special group of scaffolding proteins known as FK506-binding proteins, the lab's overarching goal is to gain a better understanding of how specificity, binding affinity, and surface complementarity drive the activation and deactivation of multi-protein complexes, leading to either effective functional outcomes or detrimental consequences in health and disease.

FK506-binding proteins, particularly FKBP51 and FKBP52, modulate key cellular pathways, including metabolism, autophagy, and the immune response. As a result, these proteins are linked to several human diseases, such as obesity, neurodegeneration, and cancer. Working alongside medicinal and synthetic chemists, the lab aims to leverage our emerging structural details to create and evaluate new small molecules or peptides designed to either enhance or disrupt these multi-protein complexes. The lab adopts a multidisciplinary approach, utilizing a range of techniques such as recombinant protein expression, cell-based functional assays, cutting-edge structural biology methods, and complementary biophysical techniques.